The use of statellite technology for live interviews around the globe is so ubiquitous that you almost forget a time without it. NIGHTLINE is the program that pioneered this technology and showed how it could bring newsmakers on all points of the globe together for debate and discussion. The book recounts in well-researched detail the events that led to the birth of the program, its evolution and continued development. Fans of the show will enjoy all the nuggets of information: the circumstances that led to an unknown correspondent to be the permanent host; the selection of the name itself; details of experiments that failed. Though billed as being by Ted Koppel and Kyle Gibson, Koppel makes it clear that the book is largely Gibson's. Gibson was a producer for the program for several years but has moved on to other posts within ABC News. This is another benefit of the book: she brings the perspective of having been an insider while not being too close to the project. You'll enjoy the many excerpts of memorable programs and exchanges, and Koppel's hidden sense of humor shines through.

It is exactly what I said in the title this book is the definitive piece on this subject however threw my collections of post cards and other research I find this book to be lacking. I would truly like to see an author go the next step and use this book as a stepping stone. I would love to see some of the uniform plates they used for graphics they seem truly outstanding. However, while this book does very well on the topic I find that this topic is also daunting seeing true ultimate variations on the uniforms of Estonia during this period. Even in the collars you have both mandarin and fold down seemingly at the same time so it is a difficult topic to research when you also take into account the fact that so much information on the topic has probably been destroyed due to the Russians and the Nazis

My first thought in his first couple entries was that he was trying a little to hard to be funny ala Dennis Miller or Jay Leno. However, then I realized that he wasn't, he was just blurting out his thoughts from each day (and almost every day).

I feel there was not much cohesion throughout the book. He spends a lot of time on the war in Kosovo, as that was a big event during that year. However, he puts in little tidbits about his growing up and his new house or something irrelevant. Even though it was meant to be his personal thoughts on various topics, I felt he should have organized the material a little bit.

On the good side, it was interesting hearing about the difficulties of being a reporter during the war, and getting some of that insider information. Similarly, it was interesting hearing his perspective from having been around for a while in the journalism business.

Overall, I made it through the whole book, but every once in a while while listening to it (Audio CD version), I would think, "Now why did he include that?" I feel this work could have been improved through some editting and some thoughtful exclusions or reorganization of the material.

Ted Koppel. That voice, the music, the graphics. I grew into television news with Ted-- though I called him Mr. Koppel in our private, if fictional, chats about world events. From that stage, I somehow expected a giant to emerge from the pages of "Off Camera", and that giant of a man should know all and tell all because, who could do it better? This is not that sort of book. It does not gossip; it does not lie. It is Mr. Koppel, though, and he's got a great deal to let us in on.

What works in this diarist's format is the jangling juxtapositions between waitng for the caller I.D. guy and musing over, "Oh, incidentally, Boris Yeltsin threatened NATO with nuclear war yesterday, if it doesn't stop bombing Yugoslavia. Everybody assumes he's kidding" (92). This sort of mingling of the mundane and the geopolitical reminds us that we cannot wholly escape either world-- it is as reckless to ignore the din of geopolitics as it is to ignore the phone bill. He's saying, "Hey! I, Mr. Big Shot Nightline Guy, have to deal with the daily dumb stuff. Why don't YOU try reading a newspaper?" And yes, he's a little testy on this. And no, he doesn't hold out much hope for what Americans have become. ....

"Off Camera" is the voice of Ted Koppel: wry, commanding, knowing. There are spurts of dark humor (the moments of a life stolen while exchanging 32 cent stamps), anger, wonderment, acceptance and love. It is the writing of a journalist and the musings of a man whose sorted out his own mortality. He's a Mr. Koppel who doesn't much like President Clinton either (he'd be dishonest to say otherwise and his reasoning is solid--even though I think he's wrong). In the end, it's Ted Koppel and there are lessons to be learned. Though not a great book, this is one worth owning.

Mr. Ted Koppel is easily one of the most respected journalists we have the pleasure of listening to and watching almost daily. He has honed his craft for 36 years, and has anchored "Nightline" for nearly 20 years. If peer recognition is used as a measure of his contribution and talent, 32 Emmy Awards, 6 Peabody Awards, 9 Overseas Press Awards, and several others clearly demonstrate he is held in high regard.

As the book takes place in a daily entry format, it is not as fluid as more traditional prose, and Mr. Koppel clearly enjoyed having some fun while documenting the remarkable events that a successful career, that is his, entails. I refer specifically to his asides about his food shopping at Giant Supermarkets. These light diversions are at times extremely funny and serve to demonstrate a wit that I was not familiar with. Even though they reside on competing networks, he clearly could step in for Andy Rooney if the occasion arose.

The thoughts recorded over the year of 1999 are in the main serious by themselves, and in the specifics of the topics he describes. He is brutally candid about an enormous range of issues, and this is the only reason I can think of that would cause some readers to not like this book. I still believe his insights are valuable even if one or more may not be in line with your own.

If you are a supporter of President Clinton, you will not like this book. Mr. Koppel has strong feelings about what a President should be, what a leader is, and Mr. Clinton does not meet any of them. The Clintons evidently feel the same, as when Elie Wiesel asked that Mr. Koppel be one of his 5 friends at a dinner for him at The Whitehouse, the invitation was never sent. Though Mr. Koppel never expected the invitation to be honored, it clearly offended Mr. Wiesel, and demonstrated the pettiness that The White House can enjoy.

I enjoyed the format of the book as he spoke briefly in his entries as measured by length, by expressed more understanding of his chosen topics than many books on the same subjects convey. In 3 paragraphs he flays foreign policy for the contradiction in terms it often is, and in slightly more space he demonstrates how strange the attitudes toward Mr. Clinton have been. There were a series of questions asked by pollsters, and not one was ambiguous in expressing the thoughts of those asked; "the majority (73-79%) of the American people are perfectly content to have a President whom they regard as having low moral and ethical standards, who is not a positive role model for young people and who is neither honest nor trustworthy, but who appears, figuratively speaking, to be bringing home the bacon." Former Democratic Governor of New York Mr. Mario Cuomo said, "Yeah, I wouldn't trust this guy in Church, and I wouldn't let him date my Sister, but he's a terrific President." One has to wonder which of Mr. Clinton's frailties Mr. Cuomo lacked that kept him from seeking the Presidency.

We learn who he believes constitutes a leader, Winston Churchill, George Washington, and why even leaders who may have had faults, like King Hussein, were still leaders as they routinely did that which Clinton has never done, put the people they represent, their Country, ahead of themselves, their own interests.

He speaks eloquently on issues of race, commenting on our taking in 20,000 refugees from the former Yugoslavia, and wondering will the same ever be the case with a similar exodus from the Continent of Africa.

He says more than once that we may someday refer to the present years as the "prewar years". He also shares the little known secret that the rest of the world does not necessarily think America is quite as great as we find ourselves. Kosovo and its surroundings, and inhabitants illustrate beautifully, how our actions are perceived by those we believe we are helping. It's the old adage that perception is all that matters.

The book is opinionated but not arrogant. Mr. Koppel has strong views, but he also has the first hand experience and knowledge to back his statements. You may not like some of what he has to say, but you will be hard pressed to debate and defeat him. I do find it very upsetting that so many quotes in the book have been paraded about so far from the context they were in, as to make them not only meaningless and irrelevant to how they actually appear in the book, but also are denigrating to those people who are mentioned. Mr. Koppel has strong negative feelings about the actions of some, he never wrote in the humiliating manner some of the selective outtakes of the book suggest.

As I said earlier, excellent, but not perfect, however, books like this are so frustratingly rare, it is even more valuable that he took the time to write it. He did not write for the money, or for the attention. He has the former from nearly 4 decades of hard work, and the latter he has every evening.

A very well informed, articulate man, who has delivered a work that is at times sobering, is thoroughly engaging, and thought provoking.

Unconditionally recommended.